Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from January, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 3:56 pm on January 5, 2025 Permalink  

  Sunny Sunday the 5th 

  The sun shinning can make a difference in the attitude when its cold out.

  Dennis announced that he was going to do an oven meal for supper.  I headed for the studio so as to not budge in on his preparation.  As I was going down the steps I reminded him to let me know if he needed any help.  After a goodly amount of time Dennis was at the back door with his jacket on.  I was told 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Enough said.

  I was working on two table runners with embroidery.  I got them hemmed so it was a matter of choosing what design went where.  There are quite a few steps to remember with the embroidery.  I chose the aqua mesh stabilizer for the backing.  Two layers.  There is always going to be a bit of a pucker here and there depending on how dense the design is.  On the top of the hoop I put a thin film of H20 stabilizer to prevent the stitching being embedded into the fabric.

  Measure, measure when there are multiple times to take the fabric out of the hoop to reposition with additional stabilizer, etc.

  All went well.  No problems during the process.   The next step will be to soak them in water to allow all the stabilizer is dissolve off of them front and back.  While the table runners are still damp I will pin them down to square them up.  As luck would have it, I have a bi-fold heavy cardboard table topper for the church tables.  The thumb tacks work really well on that.

  Before any more stitching, the sewing machine will need some TLC.  Fuzz and wandering threads need to be cleaned out.  Oiling after this type of workout (over 150,000 stitches) is mandatory, culminating with a new needle.

  I belong to a group on Facebook in regard to the model of Bernina that each have.  Amazing for the amount of people that really shouldn’t be working with such a wonderful machine.

  The oven meal will be a mystery revealed.  I did lift the lid of the round blue-speckled roaster when I came up from the studio.  I saw a healthy layer of black pepper and some crushed soda crackers.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:14 pm on January 4, 2025 Permalink  

  Boo Boo Cold Out 

  Well isn’t that something.  I am beginning to come accustomed to it.

  I had an agenda today.  I had stitched some small Christmas stuffed pillows to put in my dough-bowl.  This morning the dough-bowl and the pillows found their home back in the studio.  The pillows are in a box labeled “Finished Item” up on shelf.  The bowl back into the cupboards in the cistern closet.  That was the extent of our decorating for the Christmas of 2024.  It wasn’t what was setting out as decorations, it was what I felt in the heart and my entire being.

  While I dribble out my thoughts on the blog for today, I have the embroidery module running next to me on the sewing machine.  I still have a few Christmas feelings that I want to stitch out for a Christmas yet to be.

  I was surfing the OESD site.  It is the site from Oklahoma that has designs compatible with Bernina.  I had had an email of the sale.  I looked over some Christmas designs.  Ever since the time I have had the option of embroidery, I never not dipped my toe into what was available much for Christmas.  I did choose four packets.  Each packet has multiple designs within.  One has 41 designs of machine quilting designs and applique designs, another 34 white work (all one color) designs and the last Christmas packet has 16 multi color Christmas.  The fourth packet has 11 designs of non Christmas plus there were three free designs.  Each one of these 102 designs could be purchased individually for the average of $3.00 each.  Merry Christmas to me for my purchase price of $84.00.  For the phenomenal nominal price of $15.00 the company loaded all these designs on a flash drive plus would send it out to me.  I cannot imagine this Grammie having to individually get these files extracted from a zip folder for my enjoyment.

  I didn’t care that I would receive this possibly after Christmas.  So . . . right now I have one design being stitched while I type.  The wonderful thing is that all the thread that these designs require are suggested for Isocord thread.  All the designs listing the color of Isocord thread needed is the color pallet I have and work from.  Oh so sweet. 

  So that is my day in a nut shell.  I need to stay focused on the embroidery.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:08 pm on January 3, 2025 Permalink  

  Coffee 

  I do drink a fair amount of coffee through the day.  Our coffee pot is set to go off at six in the morning.  It will stay hot on the burner for four hours.  We can continue punching it until the coffee has been totally consumed.  We like our coffee rick and strong.  No flavored coffee for us.  Folgers all the way.  I may sleep in to various hours in the morning, but once I am up, I juice up with Folgers and I have been activated.  Within the first ten minutes of my morning I may have started the laundry and gotten a crock pot with the components of what will be our supper.

  Dennis is not a morning person anymore.  When he was a poultry transportoligist he had his 18 wheeler ready to go in a heart beat.  Now he is ready for conversation by noon.  He and the kitties need the patio porch time.

  Yesterday the pork roast was tender done by four in the afternoon.  I decided to make it a pulled pork supper with the boiled potatoes.  If we have ever been to an event or in a restaurant, I can guarantee you I will pass on their rendition of pulled pork.  By the time I was done 99% of the pork roast was in pieces no longer than an inch.  Longer than an inch I find it stringy and hard to bite and chew.  I left the shredded pork in the crock pot and it soaked up all the juices of the cooking process.  No flavor went by the wayside.  This evening, I can see having wonderful hot pork sandwiches with Mayo, or . . . heating the pork in a serving dish in the microwave with a damp paper towel over the serving dish.  I know the pork having all the juices within is not going to be dry to go with the fried potatoes left over from being boiled last night.  We don’t do much frying of our meals, but who doesn’t enjoy American fried potatoes with the edges having a bit of a crisp.

  The studio being a bit chilly, I kept my nose to the stitching today.  I did do a query about the yardage in a full hank of silk floss.  Minimal there is 1,000 yards of 6 ply floss.  Working with two strands each time the needle is loaded compared to a skein of six ply DMC, that entails many stitches.  DMC has 8 yards of six ply per skein. 

  We had and do not have any reason to go out into the cold in the next several days.

  I just finished the last of the 14 cups from the coffee maker.  

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:23 pm on January 2, 2025 Permalink  

  Thursday the 2nd 

  So much grayness after a few fleeting minutes of sun this morning.

  Our post master himself was delivering mail this forenoon.  I greeted him as I do each day whoever deliveries the mail.  It’s the least I can do when they are moving as fast as possible and they can hand off the mail rather than getting the mail into the small slot in the house wall.  I am not sure if there is a heater in their small vehicle that is parked several blocks away as they make deliveries in a loop.

  The kitchen is filling with the aroma of a pork roost in the crock pot.  I plan on doing boiled potatoes and green beans for supper.

  Dennis’ report came from his last lab work of the VA’s.  More foods with iron will need to be on Dennis’ menu.  Yup.  I was on the internet like a flash and each day’s menu will have what is needed.

  My stitching entails finishing the bell-pull that I have been working on.  The band across is 40 stitches.  I am using the variegated silk embroidery floss that was Carrie and Kevin’s grandmother’s.  Esther Schafer passed away in 1973.  I do know for a fact that from the time I knew Esther, 1963, she was totally into crocheting.  This full hank of silk floss would like to tell tales.  I feel very honored to be working with it.  My goal is to find enough projects going forward to use the majority of it up.  This bell-pull is my one current work in progress.  Well . . . there is one project I started in 2023 on fabric that is 20 stitches to the inch that takes one strand of floss in the needle at a time.  Esther’s project takes two strands over two stitches as it is 40 count making it equivalent to the 20 count.  This Grammie has a good feeling about wrapping up the bell-pull.

  I have a heavy duty mystery book I am just about to finish.  It is spell-binding.  It is less than 100 pages out of the 456 pages.  The reading, I usually do before turning in for the night.  Mark Greaney is the author and I have scored two additional books of his.  I have several authors that I like.  My stash is such that I do not blow through all of the books from one author but interject a break from one to another.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:20 pm on January 1, 2025 Permalink  

  1/1/2025 

  Here we are at the beginning of a year.  Not so much of a new year as many of the things that were in place yesterday were with us again this morning.

  I can report that Dennis, after his fall yesterday, did rest well during the night.  Though his left eye is swollen shut, he is doing his usual activities today.  Solitaire can be played with one eye.  I think putting a bag of frozen peas on the area would help the swelling, but then one would need to sit still long enough for it to be held in place.

  I had an item I wanted to get stitched up in the studio.  KNUJ hadn’t missed a beat with their usual items of broadcasting.

  This afternoon, I called my brother to wish him a new year.  Settling in is going slowly.  At the moment the individuals that are employed in the assisted living unit Calvin is in seem to be the most social.  Given time, I hope that a few others, of the 16, will become more social.  I suggested if nothing else to query the help and get the skinny on those around him, so the ice can be broken when the moment hits.  Calvin did not keep his car.  I do not know how mobile he was in Decorah, but Walmart would be in conversations I had with him in the past.

  Traffic is sparse today.  With the strong wind from the north, my protective shelter, the evergreen tree and evergreen bush is falling short in being a buffer for my bedroom porch.  Hmm.

  This is my second day of wearing a pair of shoes that have good support in them.  The feet are feeling a twinge where the arch would be in my feet, that is if I had a normal arch rather than being flat-footed.  A few hours every day to break the shoes in.  It’s a good thing.  One new pair of shoes came into the house yesterday and one pair of no-account shoes hit the garbage yesterday.  It was tit-4-tat.

  Today is the last of the week days where it felt like a Sunday.  No viable holidays now until the 4th of July.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:31 pm on December 30, 2024 Permalink  

  Bearings 

  After a discombobulation of a holiday in the middle of the week, it’s difficult to get my bearings straight.  Yes, Grammie this is a Monday.

  Both Dennis and I slept late this morning.  If it were not for the mail person sliding mail into my bedroom porch via the slot, hard telling when the feet would have hit the floor.  

  The same will happen this week with the new year on a Wednesday.  I don’t think it will impact us the same as this week we are sticking close to home.  

  Dennis took the utility bill to the drop-box at city hall.  By the way, our city hall is almost a mile from us now as they have converted the old hospital out by the Dairy Queen into the brains of the city.  I think they are encouraging us older folks to have the utility bill as directly taken out of our checking accounts.  We are not buying into that.  I still enjoy seeing what each and every item adds up to for the total amount.  Water, sewer and electric amounts do not even add up to half of the line items to make the total.

  I decided to come into the studio.  I flew a few items past Carrie yesterday in fabric choices and today I am going to start working on that.

  I only have one project in the works for my stitching in the cherry red chair in my bedroom porch.  Perhaps after today the fabric choice will be paired up with a new stitchy design.  Time will tell.

  Supper will be the remaining items from yesterday’s noon meal and then new meal plans will need to be put in place. 

  Dennis reported that the fog is worse than it was earlier today.  I think it will take having the wind come from the north rather than the south, to clear the air.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:59 pm on December 29, 2024 Permalink  

  Fog Setting In 

  The day was dark and cloudy all the day long.  The fog began setting in about four this afternoon.

  Carrie’s family left Eden Prairie in the fog this morning.  By the time they reached Mankato, all was clear.  They will be traveling home in the fog.

  I lightened the load a bit in the studio.  Megan was seeking fabrics.  I had an unused tote bag.  Who knew it would be the perfect thing!  It handled a small cutting board and I paired that with a small rotary cutter.  Megan had quite the variety by the time her and I came back upstairs.

  Nicholas was thrilled that there were scalloped potatoes in the mix for dinner.  The potatoes did cause me some concern as I had to alter the ingredients.  I had mistaken a container of heavy whipping cream when my intention had been milk.  It all turned out just fine.

  The kids took turns being out in the porch for some “Snuggles time.” 

  The day went well and the kitchen is as if no one had used it today.  Carrie and Jeremy did the dishes before anyone was ready for dessert.

  Dennis and I will be ringing in the new year on a quiet note.  I won’t mind that one bit and I am sure Dennis will agree.

  I will be getting into my robe shortly and putting my feet up.

  I will admit, yesterday was a kicker for me.  Sadie’s home is an extreme split-level home.  From the front door to the living area it was 12-14 stairs at a very steep assent.  The afternoon plus taking photos at street level and then back upstairs for lunch.  My legs were weary last night.  

  The new week is here and I am sure most people will take it in stride . . . I sure will.  Yup, I am spoiled and am the first to admit it.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   

   
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  Noreen 3:16 pm on December 26, 2024 Permalink  

  Second Christmas Day 

  We, on Stauffer Avenue are again doing the cloudy and not so bright.

  Christmas 2024 is on the books as a day where all was well here with Dennis and me.  I did receive my Christmas gifts from the ole cowboy.  Tucked on my family shelf here in the studio is a $2.00 bill.  The second part of my gift was a can of cold Coca-Cola right from his jacket pocket.  I had commented a time back that it had been months since I had had a soft drink.  Who says the ole cowboy can’t hear.

  As you may have gotten the message, I have no wants of any substance.  Our day was spent listening to Christmas music in the background as Dennis was on his computer and I got a stitch or two into a project.

  My brother Calvin spent Christmas Eve in his new living quarters in Cloquet, Minnesota.  No doubt it will be an adjustment.  I know his son Eric has done all in his power for it to be a good experience going forward.  It is an assisted living complex.  Eric, via short-cuts, lives about 25 minutes away on the outer area of Duluth.  Calvin’s son Jason does the wide-load deliveries and passes by the interstate from time to time.  His plan is to take an Uber to see his dad when it works out.

  I had received a message that my primary doctor wanted me to set an appointment.  I called this afternoon to make said appointment.  There was no additional information about what the visit would entail.  As it was, my primary had no openings for some time.  I left it with the receptionist that I was doing quite well with nothing that would make me seek medical care.  But . . . if that changed, I would call the clinic and take it from there.  Jody made her notes on my chart.

  I am planning chicken tenderloins and boiled potatoes with a veggie on the side for supper.  A gloomy day speaks towards a hot supper.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:46 pm on December 24, 2024 Permalink  

  The Music 

  KNUJ did not disappoint today.  Wonderful Christmas music.  Yes, there were news items as well, but by far and wide, more music to enjoy.

  Oh what a gray day!  It is then up to me to make my own sunshine.  That is just what I did in the studio today.  Four small 4″ x 4″ stitch-outs are now pillows of various sizes.  Seeing as how the stitch designs did harken unto Christmas motifs . . . today was the day.  I had had a scrap of red suede that I would run across every now and then.  Enough!  I found a design to use under the embroidery module and so now there were five pillows.  I got out my bag of poly-fill and sat at my sewing table making fat little pillows.  Over time the fat little pillows can become . . . not so fat.  Hand stitching the closures was not any easier than in times of old.

  Well, well.  When I picked up the suede pillow, I did comment to myself that I wasn’t as crafty as I thought of myself.  No way was I going to get a needle and sewing thread to push and punch through the suede.  There was no way of successfully getting it under the needle of the sewing machine.  I finally decided to take a chance with gluing the seam shut.  Being very careful to run a thin thread of glue on the seam allowance I used wonder clips to nip just the very edge where the two edges met.  I won’t know if that worked or not until tomorrow.  I believe in letting glue have its due course for drying and adhering.

  My next quest was to find a container to hold my treasures.  Into the cistern closet for a look-see into the storage cabinets.  There was a huge stoneware bowl of times gone by.  It is the perfect container to set upon one of our cabinets in the living room.  Let’s be clear . . . it is the only surface in the living room where something other than a necessity could be set.  

  Here we are.  Dennis and I are safe and cozy in our home on this Christmas Eve.  What a special night it is.  All is calm though not very bright . . . it is the light that shines within us that brings us tidings of good cheer.  We have had a wonderful 2024 to bring us to this night.  May the riches within your lives bring you peace.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:20 pm on December 23, 2024 Permalink  

  Busy Monday 

  Always ready to empty the laundry basket.  I don’t fault Dennis for putting on clean clothes.  The opposite for sure would not be a good thing.

  Dennis graduated from PT today.  A good report indeed.  It has been quite the path since October the 5th of this year.

  There are good things that come about from temps in the thirties.  The bad thing is the thawing of packed snow that turns to ice during the nighttime temps.  Dennis put some ice-bite right by the back door.  Our little awning over the back door, drips just perfectly to cause ice.  The remaining of our driveway has little left to freeze-dry.

  The studio found me scratching my head a few times.  How difficult can it be to turn 4″ x 4″ stitched items into little pillows!  It occurs when I want to use trim that hasn’t seen the light of day for quite a while.  The old adage of if you can imagine it, you can do it.  I have all of the components, just lacking some execution skills and Dennis doesn’t do well with those types projects.  “You want me to do what?”  Hmm.  I am not throwing in the towel . . . just shutting things down until another day.

  Nothing more to report from Stauffer Avenue.  

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥